Right from my childhood days, I had this dream of creating a name and getting some fame for myself. I cleared my junior college and started pursuing my degree in a co-educational college. I remember one incident very clearly.
Our college hosted an annual function every year. And my friends and I, as usual, attended it. It was fun and we always enjoyed ourselves. Our college authorities would invite a celebrity as a chief guest. And the Class Representatives, Lady Representatives and the Male Representatives of our college would get the opportunity of receiving awards from him and interacting with him.
I was in my third year at that time. You know, I was sitting with my group of friends at the back and I just casually told them that I would love to become the Lady Representative of the college and interact with celebrities like Parikshit Sahni. And then I completely forgot about it.
When we entered the fourth year, it was time to elect the Lady Representative from our batch of students. I was quite social even at that time. Well, I would interact freely with my juniors and seniors too. I would openly discuss several things with all of them, including the boys. And I had no such hang-ups about talking to boys.
When it was time to nominate students from our batch, my friends told me that they wanted to nominate me for that post. I laughed at them. I told them that I had no qualities of a leader and I was not good enough for that post. And I wondered if I could shoulder that kind of responsibility too. But slowly they discussed this idea with my other friends and all of them agreed that I was the best person for this post.
I discussed all this with my mother at home. And all she said was, “I am not going to take up the responsibility for this. I have no money to spare for election campaigns. Remember you are studying in a co-educational institute. And your younger sisters need to get married too. Take your own decision. But remember that I should not get any complaints about you at any point in time. I don’t have the time or the energy to deal with any other additional issues.”
My mother’s words sobered me up to a very great extent. I gave up the idea completely and told my friends that I could not spare any money for the election campaigns and my mother was getting anxious about the whole thing. I told them one thing clearly. That I did not want to burden my mother in any way.
All my friends listened to me patiently. They discussed the matter briefly amongst themselves. And asked me not to worry. They said that they would collect the money for the election campaign expenses and take care of everything. I just had to agree to the whole thing.
I thought about it for a long while and finally decided to take a chance. Well…actually I had nothing to lose. At best, I would end up not winning the election. But there was no harm in trying for the post. So I agreed to become a candidate and contest for the post of Lady Representative. We started campaigning and my friends really supported me through this phase. I guess I was quite social and I loved helping others in any way I could. That helped me a lot I suppose.
Election day arrived. I was breathless with excitement. The votes were cast. The votes were counted in the office block. Every now and then the results so far would be declared just like how it happens in our elections in our country. We could see the numbers changing in our favour.
I was standing by the window when the final results were declared. And I cried with joy when I heard the news that I had won the election by a clear 128 votes. I had broken a record and created history in our college by winning by such a big margin.
My friends cheered for me like crazy. They draped garlands around my neck. I was wearing a white salwar kameez and a bandhani dupatta at that time. Even today, I can clearly visualize the entire scene. It was a proud moment indeed and I was extremely happy to be elected the Lady Representative of our college.
Finally, I had realized my dream of creating a name and getting some fame for myself. And I shouldered the responsibilities of my position with élan and passed out of college with decent marks.
This entire experience taught me one thing -that we should have a clear goal, a well-defined ambition in life. Of course, we will never realize our goals or achieve our ambitions immediately. But when we are clear about what we want in our lives, we will work towards achieving our goals slowly every single day. Right from the beginning, I had this kind of clarity. Of course, I did face challenges too. But I learnt to work around them too.
So even today, I, Ruchida Bajaj, believe that only if we have a clear goal in our lives we will find solutions to our problems and move on in the right direction. And that thought alone fires me up and gives me the courage to pursue the things I believe in.
*Ruchida Bajaj is a gold level director with Aplomb Health Care. Do contact us if you wish to buy any of these products.